Free ride

When I arrived at San Jose Caltrain this morning, I was surprised to see somewhere around 1,000 people standing on the train platform. I realized pretty quickly most of them were Giants fans on their way to San Francisco for the victory parade.

Caltrain passengers are required to buy tickets before boarding, but when station staff saw ticket lines running several hundred deep, they told passengers to “just board.” The rides weren’t officially free today, but conductors weren’t checking for tickets this morning.

Caltrain seated capacity is about 600 passengers. This morning, my northbound train was standing room on all five cars — including the bike car. I had to push my way through to leave the train in Menlo Park, but the Giants fans were friendly and accommodating. They also were getting an early start on the celebrations.

Caltrain is running extra trains to serve the demand. I’m hearing BART trains are also jam packed this morning. BART is running longer trains today. Downtown traffic is an absolute mess for anybody who was tempted to drive into San Francisco today.

In other transportation news:

Jim Oberstar surprise defeat. Oberstar is chairman of the House Transportation Committee and was instrumental in pushing a lot of bike friendly Federal legislation.